10 



THE FARMER'S M ONT H L Y V I S I TO R. 



January, 1842. 



its lowest state, tliat there was a freshet upon it. 

 For a distance of one thousand miles above f 

 Louis, the shores of this river, and in many pi 

 ces the whole bed of the stream, are filled with 

 snags and rafts, formed of trees of the largest 

 size, which have been undermined with the lall 

 ing banks and cast into the stream — their roots 

 become fastened in the bottom of the river, with 

 their tops floating upon the surface of the water, 

 and pointing down the stream, forming the niosl 

 frightful and discouraging prospect for the ad- 

 venturous voyager. Almost every island and 

 sand-bar is covered with huge piles of these float 

 ing trees; and when the river is flooded, its sur- 

 face is almost literally covered with floating raft 

 and drift-wood, which bids positive defiance to 

 keel-boats and steamers on the way up the river. 

 The scene is not, however, all so dreary ; there is 

 a redeemable beauty in the green and carpeted 

 shores, which hem in this huge and terrible de- 

 formity of waters. There is much of the way 

 through which the mighty forests of stately cot- 

 ton wood stand and frown in dark and liorrid 

 coolness over the filthy abyss below — into which 

 they are ready to plunge headlong wheu the nmd 

 and soil in which they are germed and reared has 

 been washed out from underneath them, and is 

 with the rolling current mi.xed and on its way to 

 the ocean. The greater part of the shores of tliis 

 river, however, are without timber, where the eye 

 is deiightfidly relieved by wandering over beau- 

 tilul prairies — most of the way gracefully sloping 

 down to the water's edge, carfieted with the 

 deepest green, and in the distance, softening into 

 velvet of the richest hues, entirely beyond the 

 reach of the m'tist's pencil. Such is the charac- 

 ter of the upper part of the river especially — and 

 as one advances to its source, and through its up- 

 per halt; it becomes more pleasing to the eye, for 

 snags and rafts are no longer to be seen, yet the 

 current holds its stiflfand onward turbid charac- 

 ter. It has been, heretofore, very erroneously re- 

 presented to the world, that the scenery on this 

 river was monotonous, and wanting in pictur- 

 esque beauty. This intelligence is surely incor- 

 rect, and that because it has been brought per- 

 haps by men who are not the best judges in the 

 world of nature's beautiful works; and if they 

 were, they always pass them by, in pain or des- 

 perate distress, in toils and treiiibling fears for the 

 safety of their furs and peltries, or for their lives, 

 which are at the mercy of theyellingsavages who 

 inhabit this delightful country. 



One thousand miles or more of the upper part 

 of this river was, to my eyes, like fairy land — 

 and, during our transit through that part of cur 

 voyage, I was most of tlie time riveted to the deck 

 of the boat, indulging my eyes in the boundless 

 and tireless pleasure of roaming over the thou- 

 sand hills, and bluffs, and dales, ai;d ravines, 

 where the astonished herds of buffaloes, elks, an- 

 telopes, and speaking wolves, and moimtain goats, 

 were to be seen bcnnding up and down and over 

 the green fields ; each one and each tribe, band 

 and gang, taking their own way, and using their 

 own means to the greatest advantage possible, to 

 lose the sight and sound of the pufling of our 

 boat — which was for the first time saluting the 

 greet- wild shores of thtJ Missouri, a distance of 

 two thousand six hundred miles in one continued 

 prairie; with the exception of a few of the bot- 

 toms formed along the banks of the river, and the 

 streams which are falling into it, which are often 

 covered with the most Inxin-iant growth of forest 

 timber. 'J'he summit level of the great prairies, 

 stretching oft' to the west and the east fi'om the 

 river, to an almost boundless extent, is from two 

 to three luuidred feet from the river — which has 

 formed a bed or valley for its course, var\ing in 

 width from two to twenty miles. This cliannel 

 or valley has been evidently produced by the 

 force of the current, which lias gradually excava- 

 ted, in its tlond> and gorges, this immense space, 

 ami .sent its drhris into the ocean. By the con- 

 tinual Dvcifiowing ofthe river, its deposites have 

 been left and lodged with a horizontal surface, 

 epreadin:.' the deepest and riche.-^t alluvion over 

 the Eurfuce of it.^ meadows on either side, thro' 

 vvhich the river v.ind.s its serpentine course, al- 

 ternately running from one bluff' to another, 

 which presents themselves to its shores, in all the 

 most picturesqe and beantifid shapes and colors 

 imaginable — some with their green sides grace- 

 Inlly sloped down in the most lovelv irroups to 

 li" water's edge: whilst others, divest?'! of their 



verdure, present themselves in inmiense masses 

 of clay, of diff'erent colors, which arrest the eye 

 of the traveller with the most ciu'ious views in the 

 world. These strange and picturesque appear 

 ances have been produced by the rains and 

 frosts, which are continually changing the dimen 

 sions and varying the thousand shapes of these 

 denuded lulls, by washing down their sides and 

 carrying them into the river. Amongst thesf 

 groups may be seen tens and hundreds of thou- 

 sands of different forms and figures of the su- 

 blime and picturesque ; in many places, fur miles 

 together, as the boat glides along, there is one 

 continued appearance before and behind us, of 

 some ancient and boundless city in ruins — ram 

 parts, tei-racea, domes, towers, citadels, and cas 

 ties, may be seen ; cupolas end magnificent por 

 ticoes, and here and there a solitary column and 

 crumbling pedestal, and even sjiires of clay 

 which standalone, and glistening in the distance 

 as the sun's rays are reflected back by the thou- 

 sand crystals of gypsum whicli are imbedded in 

 the clay of wliich they are formed. Over and 

 through these groups of domes and battlements, 

 (as one is compelled to imagine them,) the sun 

 sends his long and gilding rays, at morn or the 

 evening, giving life and light, by aid of shadow 

 cast to the different glowing colors of these clay 

 built ruins, shedding a glory over the solitude o( 

 this wild and pictured country, which no one can 

 realize unless he travels here and looks upon it. 



REMARKS BT THE EDITOR OF THE VISITOR. 



The vast amount of alluvial deposite which for 

 ages has been coming down the Mississippi, a 

 river which is but a continuation ofthe great Mis- 

 souri, with the Mississii)pi above, the Wabash, 

 the Illinois and perhaps the Ohio itself as its in- 

 ferior stems and branches, has made up the great 

 ma.ss which constitutes the most fertile soil ofthe 

 West. The sugar and cotton plantations in Ar- 

 kansas, Mississippi and Louisiana are of that 

 made-laud which has come down in the course 



of ages. As compared with the origin of the 

 world, the existence of these g'-eat rivers pursuing 

 their present course is recent ; Ibr in this west- 

 ern world the marks of a ridge broken through 

 running from west to east which must have inter- 

 cepted these waters and turned them towards the 

 north and east, still exist in the states of Indiana 

 and Illinois continuing westerly ofthe Illinois and 

 Mississippi rivers which have broken through it. 

 We ask what is the material which constitutes 

 the rich alluvion upon all the banks of the west- 

 ern rivers.' Whence was it derived.' It must 

 come from the very bosom of the mountains in 

 the water which every succeeding rain has borne 

 alcnig on its way to the ocean. Sometimes the 

 undermining of the percolating waters brings 

 down the immense avalanche— sometimes the 

 gentler streams bring along the finer particles so 

 that the innnediate observer heeds not the change 

 that is constantly going on. That the material 

 coming from the mountains at the sources of all 

 our rivers constitutes the extraordinary fertility of 

 all alluvion lands,mnst be evident to every reflect- 

 ing observer : the masses of sand that appear in 

 some jilaces upon the river h.inks are probably 

 separated at some eddy retaining the heaviest 

 particles, while the lighter and richer float on- 

 ward and are deposited where the stream has le-s-s 

 force. This separation continuing for a series of 

 years makes the rich soil richer and the poor soil 

 poorer. Where the swollen river in a freshet 

 throws over its banks with direct force a quanti- 

 ty of soil, we find on the receding of the stream, 

 this addition generally will he pure sand: where 

 the rising waters back in upon the low alluvion, 

 there a rich deposit is left equal to a spread of 

 the richest coating of manure. These successive 

 deposites are con.stantly raising the surface ofthe 

 ground over which they flow, especiallyat all 

 hose places where the stream backs in. " Some- 

 times indeed the direct force of a strong current 

 sweeps oft' the surface on an alluvion bottom. — 

 The tracts of intervale upon the rivers in the in- 

 terior were formerly in most cases the locations 

 of ponds and lakes which have gradually been 

 "lied in ; and there is in the case of the Merri- 

 mack and other rivers existing evidence that the 

 iver itself passing through these beds is gradual- 

 ly chr.'.iging its position more or Ics.s overv year. 

 The mouths ofthe Missi:^?ijlpi, ul.irh pVo"bably 

 schargrs more water than all the rivers united 

 upon tife Atlantic coast of the United States, are 

 diiTeri'nt from the forming of allinion. pfsiK-ciallv 



in the interior upon the smaller rivers of the 

 country. That mighty stream has been long 

 bringing down the material which has turned the 

 ocean itself into land. It operates like the swell- 

 ing of a stream in a sudden falling of rain, which 

 sweeps the surface of the ground along with the 

 water to the bottom, filling up the cavity and 

 throwing the stream at an elevation above the 

 ground around it. The banks of the great Mis- 

 sissippi below the bluffs are uniformly higher 

 than the back land. At a distance from the' riv- 

 er on either hand the ground recedes from a low 

 swamp to a lake and finally to deep water : at the 

 mouths of the river the land is constantly extend- 

 ing further into the ocean which is there called 

 the Gulf of Mexico. Along the banks of the riv- 

 er on either side above and below the city of New 

 Orleans the sugar and cotton plantations of un- 

 surpassed richness have been formed and are pro- 

 tected by a levee or artificial hank, through which, 

 if the waters sometimes break, great injury is oft- 

 en sustained. The lakes in the vicinity of New 

 Orleans to the north and east were undoubtedly 

 a part ofthe ocean itself until the matter swept 

 down by the river made its lodgement and form- 

 ed the land. Of the quantity and quality of this 

 immense deposite some notion may be gathered 

 from the fiict that all the. distance of two thou- 

 sand miles above the junction of the Missouri . 

 with the Mississppi the water is so highly charg- 

 ed with material that it has the "color of a cup 

 of chocolate or coft'ee, with sugar and cream stir- 

 red into it." Turbid and muddy as this water may 

 be, it is extensively used at the cities and towns 

 on the river for the usual domestic purposes after 

 it is filtered or settled. Mr. Benton, who has long 

 resided at St. Louis, assured the editor of the 

 Visitor that this water was the most grateful and 

 pleasant and conducive to health of any water he 

 liad ever used. 



Our object in remarking on the beautiful ex- 

 tract from Catlin's notes, was to impress on our 

 readers the fact important to the agriculturist, 

 thai all our mountains, ivhether composed of rocks, 

 gravel, soil, trees or other material, are rife u-ith the 

 elements of fertililif ; that they are valuable re- 

 maining in their position as being wherever 

 there is soil upon the surface the very best graz- 

 ing land, and still more valuable when brought 

 down through the numerous streams to be dif- 

 fused over the surface of the alluvion grounds to 

 whose richness they constantly contribute. 



Many of the secondary mountains of New 

 Hampshire have been cleared within the last 

 twenty years far up their sides and even to their 

 tops ; and from these pastures we find on inquiry 

 come our fattest cattle and sheep. Small as are 

 our limits, thousands of acres of mountain lands 

 remain yet to be cleared in this state. So fertile 

 are these mountain lands that in many instances 

 the first crop after clearing has not oidy repaid 

 the whole labor but the cost ofthe land likewise. 



Hon. I. Hill: — Sir — I have been a constant 

 eader of the Visitor, and have been so much in- 

 terested and profited by its contents, that I have 

 wished it might have a place in every family, and 

 I rejoice that the subject of Agriculture is finding 

 friends among all the professions, for all will be- 

 friend it when they rightly appreciate the sub- 

 ject. 



An article in the JVetv Hampshire Baptist Reg- 

 'ster the other day pleased me, and I find it is 

 having a favorable influence in behalf of the Vis- 

 itor. As you may not have seen it, I enclose tho 

 same, and should be glad if you see fit to have 

 much of it, at least, as refers to your paper, 

 inserted in the Visitor. 



Yours, &c. 



HOPKINTON. 



Agricultur.il Papers. — We congratulate our 

 agricultural friends on the many fiicililies brought 

 to their aid at the jiresent day. The occupation 

 of the iiu-mer — the cultivation of the soil — must 

 be considered as the foundation of all others. 

 It is believed there has been a considerable 

 change effected in the public mind, and that 

 those of other, and what have been thought by 

 ome, the more respectable professions, better 

 ppreciate the labors of the hu.sbandman. More 

 attention is now paid to the subject of agricidture 

 than formerly, and the artist and scientific are 

 levoting their eneigios to the advancement of 

 msbandry in its various hrnnchr;. Ht;nce tho 



